


'Sniping'

by coplins



Series: Packrunners [22]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Animal Instincts, Bonding, M/M, Pack Bonding, Pack Building, Pack Politics, Scents & Smells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 03:19:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14967998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins/pseuds/coplins
Summary: Dean worries that Sam has wanderlust. He also frets about his new bond to Dick and what it's doing to his instincts. Mostly, he frets about not being able to follow his instincts.





	'Sniping'

**Author's Note:**

> Whelp. I had planned to go with Lucifer first and then this came out. So have some discussion about a very uncivilised and primal behaviour amongst Packrunners building their pack. 
> 
> Beta read by my awesome Beta [YouCantKeepMeDown](http://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCantKeepMeDown) (Who also beta read the last installment but I forgot to mention it.). (And Grammarly.) Any remaining mistakes are my own.

“...so now I have this compulsion to pack him up and bring him home to take better care of him. It’s insane,” Dean tells his companion with a self-deprecating smirk while watching the float bob on the water.

Sasha pulls his own fishing line up to put new bait on the hook, then swings the rod to get the float further out. “You told me he’s smart, sly, and doing very well for himself. What is problem? Sounds good to me.”

“Yeah, but the dude’s not a Packrunner. So now my instincts are trying to pull a number on me. He was supposed to borrow the scent of me, not get forced into Packrunning. And he’s older than me. He doesn’t _need_ a pack. Who’d want a young up-an’-coming to lead them when they’ve got it made all by themselves?”

“You not want him in pack?”

“Of course, I want him in the pack! That’s what I’m saying. Like both my mind and body tell me he is pack now and I should stick around to help him find his place with us, right?”

“He be siderunner then. No problem. You told me he help ones that help him, yes? So he’s got Packrunning basics down already. You’re forgetting he too has instinct pulling him now. You call for him he’ll feel the pull. Relax. It’ll sort itself out. Pretty little Omega worry too much.” Sasha reaches out and pats him reassuringly on the knee.

Dean snorts in amusement then pulls up his rod sharply when his float disappears under water. A medium sized bass struggles caught on the hook. Dean lifts it up to the dock and lets Sasha take it off the hook just to witness his claw skills. Sasha claws on one hand and proceeds to skin and filet the fish deftly with those wicked claws of his. The first time he’d done it Dean had gushed and wondered how he’d learned to do that. (He suspects he couldn’t since he lacks the sharp edge on the underside that the Siberian has.) Sasha’s only answer was that he’s lived a long life. Every time he gives an answer like that Dean guesses his age to be older and older. When he’s done filleting the fish he throws the left over to the nearby gulls―just close enough that if they were out to hunt gulls the birds would be within easy reach, building their trust for future hunts―then puts the fillets in the ice-filled cooler they brought. “You’re probably right…” Dean concedes while putting new bait on the hook and throwing his line out again. “But I can’t help to worry. After all, it’s my job as a Main.”

Sasha chuckles. “My kind, good Main or Patriarch made people flock to them. Pack formed itself. Like yours is doing. You’re a good Main. Establishing territory and build good home takes time, yeah? So don’t worry. He’ll be part of the pack or he won’t. Give it time. Planning pack is long time strategy.”

“Hah! You call me a good Main but my only other pack member has wanderlust. I’m doing something wrong,” Dean mopes.

“I checked in on Sam. Like we agreed.”

“Yeah? He’s not in trouble, is he?”

Sasha grins. “Sam makes much trouble for himself like young and happy Omegas do. But nothing serious. Only the things you learn lessons from, you feel me? He doesn’t have wanderlust. Trust me. He’s not leaving you.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

Dean wants to ask what exactly Sam’s up to, but the very reason Sasha went to check up on him was to leave Sam space and show trust in him to make his own decisions. If it was bad enough that he needed to interfere, Sasha would have told him. Dean lets it rest.

* * *

“Hey…” Dean coos with soft happiness when he gets home to find Sam in bed. “Haven’t seen you for quite some time.” He catches Sam’s scent and takes in his appearance and suddenly he’s down on his knees on the bed scenting Sam worriedly. “Oh fuck. You’re sick! How bad is it?” Sam smells of pain and poisoning.

“I’m fine, Dean.”

“Yeah, no. Like hell you are.”

“It’s fine. It’s just something I ate. I’m starting to feel better again,” Sam assures him and lifts a weak arm to hook around Dean’s neck.

“Something you ate? What? Like on a restaurant or something? You didn’t go out trying to figure out if unknown mushrooms were edible all on your own, did you? Cuz that’s a long-term team effort and you know it.”

Sam chuckles weakly and pulls him down on top of himself to bury his nose by Dean’s neck gland. “Dean. It’s fine. I ate Night’s tail. But only a medium-sized leaf. I really regretted it two hours ago, but now the pain is receding and the fever’s going down. I’ll be back to normal in a few hours. Promise.”

“Night’s tail? Dammit, Sammy, you clumsy fuck. You sure it was only one leaf?”

Sam’s lips form a smile against Dean’s throat. “I’m sure. Don’t worry. I’m fine,” he repeats then inhales deeply. “Who’s this? We’ve got a new pack member?”

“Oh. _That_. Uh, yeah, kinda,” Dean chuckles, flustered. “That’s Dick Roman, the scentless guy? Not so scentless anymore. We kinda fucked up. Guess you’re not the only clumsy fuck in the family, huh?”

“He smells really good. What do you mean, you fucked up? Weren’t you running some kind of scam?”

“He told you that, huh? He told me that you met. And, yeah. Since he couldn’t hold a bond for more than a week or two without upkeep I let him siphon me, right? Our bosses are nuts for my scent and Dick was about to negotiate a raise. We figured we could fake-join him to us. It’d be alright since he didn’t have a scent that’d stick to me. And it all worked. Only, afterwards I let him siphon me again and felt that he was warm and sweaty. I thought he was running a fever but it turned out he was in Heat. Can you imagine it? Being in Heat and nobody’s ever able to tell unless _you_ tell ‘em? No one to deep purr you or court you properly? I mean, _fuck_.”

“So you played Alpha for him?” Sam asks. Dad raised Sam right too, for him to jump to that conclusion. It’s the right thing to do for a friend.

Dean sniggers. “Hell yeah, I did. He had this awesome thing you put on your dick that can be controlled with a remote and swell like a knot. We need to get us one of those. I’m just saying. Anyway, I asked if I could siphon him. I was curious. Plus, I had this theory that turned out to be right. When he siphoned me after I’d done it to him his scent was unlocked. Would you believe nobody’s ever siphoned him before? _Insane_. But that also means he’s a real part of our pack whether he wants to or not. Physically, at least.”

Sam’s quiet except for inhaling deeply for a while, scenting. “Are you sure it's a good thing?”

“A good thing? _Dude_. I cured him!”

“Yeah… I'm sure you're right…” Sam says hesitantly as if he isn't so sure about that. But whatever misgivings he has he isn't sharing. Dean doesn't push. Instead, he licks some secretion and siphons it to check how Sam's really doing. He'd smelled two Alphas on Sam, the one smelling the strongest is mated. He recognizes none of them. Siphoning, he makes several discoveries. Sam's post Heat. They've been synced so if Sam's had his Heat already someone has triggered it too fucking early. He can also discern that Sam's in better health physically than he seems. Sure he's in pain, but it's misery that makes him look so pitiful. Granted, it could be the pain that makes him so unhappy. Their bond is alarmingly faint which could also be the reason for Sam's unhappiness. Dean wants to mark him up and re-establish the bond. But right now it's more important that Sam recuperates. Instead, he makes a low, soothing noise in his breastbone tract and lies still with his head on Sam's shoulder, holding him. Occasionally he siphons just to check on Sam. He notes that both unhappiness and pain recede a little every time.

For a long while, they lie like that. Then suddenly Sam starts reeking of anxiety. “Dean?”

“Mhm.”

“I ate the Night's tail on purpose.”

“You ate it on a dare or something?”

“No… I, um. I was with an Alpha in Rut and I forgot to use condoms.”

“Dammit, Sammy! How many times do I have to tell you t― wait. You ate the fucking plant not to get pregnant?”

“Yeah…”

“Huh. That's… that's actually pretty smart. Hope you learned your lesson, though.”

Sam snorts humorlessly. “I did, yeah.”

“Good.”

Sam's quiet for a bit, then… “Um. I, uh, I've met someone.”

Dean’s heart starts racing nervously. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ve been dating him for two weeks now.”

“Someone you’d like to Mate with?” 

“Yeah…”

Dean tries to subdue his distress. “Oh yeah? You should introduce him to me,” he says trying to sound chipper.

“I was planning to, after our date with the Alpha pack.”

Dean is nauseous. He's losing Sam. But most important is that his brother is happy, he reminds himself. He swallows. And swallows again. “Sam… you know… if you don't want to go on the date… I want to find a pack with Alphas we both want to mate and join… but if you've found someone already I'm not gonna stop you from being happy with someone else.” He wants to gag on the words. It feels like they’re dragged out of him with barbed wire. Sasha had said Sam didn’t have wanderlust, but the fuck does he know? He tries to calm down. As long as Sam stays in New York they can still meet up often enough and he'll do his best not to loathe the Alpha who stole Sam from him.

Sam seems to pick up on his distress. “No! It's not like that, Dee. I don't want to join a Pack where you're not the Main,” Sam reassures. “Look. Um, so get this. I got mated―”

Dean heaves himself up on straight arms to look down at Sam. “Woah woah woah. What do you mean, you got mated? You don't smell mated. It's not one of those fucking Progs, is it?”

Sam chuckles, flustered. “No. He's a Packrunner like us.”

“Then you didn't get mated or I woulda smelled it,” Dean says decidedly, wondering if Sam's hit his head and gotten some brain damage to not get that. Maybe it's the poison plant? Oh fuck. What if the fucking plant gave Sam brain damage?

“No, Dean. I got mated. He was in pre-Rut, we spent a night together and it triggered both his Rut and my Heat. When I woke up I smelled mated but really faint. It was an accident. I panicked. My first thought was to run home to you to ask for advice. My second thought was 'shit, what if Dean finds out’.”

“ _Dude._ ”

Sam holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I know, I _know_. I wasn't thinking clearly. Then I met a guy who tipped me off how to get rid of the mating bond. He said to confuse the body by having unprotected sex with other Alphas.”

Dean frowns in confusion. “Why unprotected?”

“To get their scent inside out,” Sam says and makes a sweeping gesture from his head down along his body. “I think that's what got me mated in the first place. That's why I waited to eat the Night's tail until after my Heat.”

Dean lies back down and sniffs Sam's too faint pack bond. ”You know accidents don't happen accidentally, Sammy. If you really got mated there's some kick-ass chemistry going on. You sure you want to wait to introduce me to him until after the date?”

Sam chuckles ruefully. “I'm definitely sure.”

Dean thinks for a while and feels himself start to get angry. “Hey, Sammy?”

“Yes?”

“You said your Alpha is a Packrunner, right?”

“Yes.”

“Unaffiliated?”

“No. He has a pack.”

“And you want to remain in my pack, not leave me for another? Like we're a real, permanent, established pack?”

“Yeah.”

“ _Sonnova bitch!_ ”

Dean gets up and paces their apartment, growling to himself pissed the hell off. Sam sits up and looks at him with concerned confusion. “What? What is it?” he asks at the same time as he makes a placating sound in his breastbone.

Dean stops and scowls at him. His anger isn’t directed at Sam, though, so not to alarm him too much he purrs his low-frequency all-is-well. “You’re aware that your pack bond, your bond to me has faded a lot, right?”

“Um. Yeah, I noticed it wasn’t as strong as before?” Sam asks, still befuddled.

“Yeahuh. You know mating bonds don’t do that? It doesn’t fade existing pack bonds. You know what makes an existing pack bond fade? _Another fucking pack bond!_ ” Dean turns on his heel to start pacing again. He feels the heat in his eyes and the pressure in his jaws and gives in to flare and allow his fangs to drop. There’s nobody here to fight or put in place but he doesn’t care. He keeps up his low-frequency all-is-well underneath his growl not to scare Sam with his temper tantrum.

“Oh. ...But, Dean. It was an accident. Even if you’re right and I also formed a pack bond to them, it doesn’t mean I’d be accepted into the pack.”

“Hell yeah, it does! One, no Main or Patriarch in their right mind would deny an existing mating bond. If they do they’re fucking insane! Two, bonding with Dick was an accident and look at how you reacted before you could even smell the bond reciprocated on me. Your first reaction was to say ‘welcome to the pack’. I’m battling fucking compulsion to search him out and herd him home like a fucking border collie no matter what he has to say about it. I don’t, because I’ve got a fucking brain and know how to respect fucking boundaries. But fuck if I don’t want to. How do you think your Alpha’s Main and Patriarch would react if they smelled both a mating bond _and_ a pack bond on you? Huh? They’d go ‘this is mine now’, that’s how! And according to you that’s not what you want. So I’ll be damned if I’d let them fucking _snipe you_ from me! I swear to Cas, Sam, I’d fucking shred their Main to bits if they tried. I’ll fucking fight them all to keep you and steal your Alpha to us instead!” Dean squats beside the bed to look Sam in the eyes. “That’s not an easy feat, Sammy. Alphas don’t wander. Prying one loose from his pack is gonna be tough. I’ll do it, though. I’ll do it for you. I promise.”

Sam’s eyes twinkle. He covers his mouth with a hand to stop a giggle from escaping. 

“What? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. They don’t have a Main.”

“So? I’ll fight their Patriarch. Wait. It’s not the Patriarch, is it?”

Sam shakes his head and keeps covering his mouth, eyes sparkling from amusement.

Dean scrunches up his nose sceptically. “It’s not some snot-nosed, newly presented little twerp, is it? One that I need to teach how to be a Patriarch? You _do_ get that he’ll automatically be the Patriarch if he’s the only Alpha in the pack.”

Sam squeezes his eyes shut, shoulders shaking from silent laughter.

“ _Sam_. It’s not funny, man. This is serious business! Dad told me all about sniping new pack members. It’s rude as hell but sometimes it’s done, okay? Sam. _Sam!_ Dammit, Sam! _Stop laughing!_ ”

Sam loses it laughing out loud, he rolls into a ball holding his stomach. His laughter and scent turn pained.

“Come on, Sammy. It isn’t funny. I’ve been worried sick I’ve given you wanderlust and you―” Dean yelps in surprise when Sam grabs him by the neck and pulls him into bed, attaching himself to his neck gland and starts siphoning.

Dean’s instantly calmed by Sam reestablishing their bond. Sam smells happy all over even with the residue of the fading poisoning. Dean might be rougher and a lot more possessive than usual, taking Sam when his siphon high takes over. But Sam smells happier and more content the more thoroughly he’s marked up and when they’re done Sam smells as much ‘pack’ as he’s ever done.

They lie cuddled together in silence for a long time, coming down from their siphon highs. Then Dean chuckles darkly. 

“What?” Sam asks with a drowsy smile.

“I just realised that the Alpha who tried to snipe you still has a mating bond and no mate to show for it. Hope he’s freaking the fuck out.”

“Dean. Now you’re just being cruel. He didn’t try to ‘steal’ me on purpose.”

“Don’t care.” Dean hugs Sam closer and makes a voice impression from one of his favourite book-turned-movie. “ _My Precious…_ ”

“Fucking nerd,” Sam sniggers.

“Bitch,” Dean grins in response.

“Jerk.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments. :D


End file.
